You Don’t Want It To Be TOO Easy, Do You?

Hey, friend.

Just for a moment, imagine the scene…

It’s your birthday. 🎉

You’re surrounded by gifts, glass of prosecco in hand, gleeful grin on your face.

You’re just about to open a present from someone who knows and loves you REALLY well. Your excitement builds – they’ve got you such amazing gifts in the past – things that have really delighted, challenged and sometimes even surprised you.

🎁 You reach out, take the box in your hands, start ripping the paper off.

As the shards fall away, the mystery is revealed…

It’s a jigsaw! A puzzle.

And you are THRILLED. You’ve always had a penchant for puzzles. Your brain just seems to work in a way that enjoys the process of putting them together, creating a big, beautiful scene from what is initially a pile of coloured cardboard.

As you marvel at the complex design you’ve received, and the 1,000 (or maybe more) pieces you’ll need to place, you open the box.

And inside…

…the puzzle pieces are covered from view by a large sheet of paper. 📄

Intrigued, you reach in and grab it. Start reading. Perhaps it’s just some information on the manufacturer or a brief list of other puzzles you might enjoy?

But no. As you examine it more closely, you realise it’s instructions.

Each and every step in constructing your puzzle is laboriously laid out – move by move by move.

The paper assures you that, after much research and the intervention of AI (🙄), the steps have been ordered in the exact way to be most efficient.

There is no need for you to worry, think for yourself, or indeed ‘puzzle’ over how to put your jigsaw together – it’s all laid out for you like a recipe. Step by perfect step.

“Oh” you exclaim, slumping back in your seat.

“I see. Well, I guess it might still be fun…”. 🤷‍♀️

You stumble out some thank yous to your loved one, and slowly slide the lid back on the box.

You know you’re 99.9999% sure you’ll never open it again.

Because, let’s face it – why would you?

Where is the fun – the challenge, the power, the autonomy – of following someone else’s instructions from start to finish? Of taking the ‘most efficient path’? Of doing things by rote? Of going directly from point A to point B without any of the adventures along the way?

The truth is – puzzles that are too easy aren’t fun.

🔮 Inherently, as humans, we love to problem solve. We love the tantalising mystery of knowing there’s a way to do something – but having to figure it out for ourselves.

We crave the self-actualisation of doing things our own way: “don’t do it FOR me, show ME how to do it for myself”.

And when we think about business in this context, the same principles apply.

As entrepreneurs, we have, in fact, chosen to engage in a puzzle.

A puzzle that spans all aspects of our life, a puzzle that will prove to be the most challenging we’ve ever undertaken. And ultimately, a puzzle that will gift us with fulfilment, creativity, financial independence and a channel to share our greatest work with the world. 🔎

And yet we are all caught up in the notion that there is some kind of Secret Knowledge™️ that we are missing.

That the next program / guru / coach / template will be THE thing that makes all the other pieces of the puzzle magically fall into place.

Naturally, getting support when you need it from trusted sources absolutely CAN help you to slot a few pieces of your particular puzzle together. Perhaps it’s the equivalent of finding that all-important corner piece, or piecing together that colourful area in the top right that’s all about marketing. 🧩

There is value in collaboration, mentoring and support. Most definitely.

But when we let ourselves believe that one of these engagements will transport us, tout de suite, to the finished jigsaw in just 14 days – merely by following a set of step-by-step instructions – we set ourselves up for difficulty.

😔 We get disappointed that it ‘didn’t work’ when it doesn’t produce the results we wanted (or were promised during the sales process).

🤯 We get disillusioned that we actually aren’t capable of achieving what we want – that we must be in some way inadequate (it worked for them, so why isn’t it working for me?).

😡 We get resentful of the coach/guru/seller who hasn’t magically solved all of our problems.

🥱 And we get bored. We give away our autonomy. We forget to listen to our own voice.

We forget that we actually chose this puzzle – and it is our deepest (but sometimes hidden) desire to complete it for ourselves.

We get to decide which approach to take.

We get to decide which design we want to piece together.

And we get to decide how long we want to take to create the finished masterpiece.

So today, consider this:

Do you really want to know all the answers?

When you say you want things to be easier, what constitutes ‘good/exciting easy’ versus ‘I’m bored now easy’?

And how can you enjoy the fascinating journey of piecing together this big, beautiful, unique puzzle of yours?

With you every piece of the way,